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Launch
Launch (ランチ, Ranchi; lit. "Lunch") is a woman with a strange disorder which changes between two personalities each time she sneezes. Her first personality is a sweet blue haired woman, who is pure-hearted. Her other personality is an angry, trigger-happy blonde woman, who commits crimes for fun and is quick to respond with gunfire when angered. Neither of Launch’s personalities remembers the other's actions, or anything they said. Appearance Launch's outfits change often, but all include a red ribbon in her hair. Launch's initial appearance consisted of a light green belly baring tanktop, yellow short shorts, brown fingerless gloves and red shoes worn with green socks. Launch's primary appearance changes during the General Blue Saga to a pink tanktop and a black pair of pants with knee pads. In the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, she wore a black shirt with green pants. During the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, she wears a red dress (which was disliked by her bad half). Personalities Good Launch This version of Launch has blue hair. The innocent persona of Launch is pure of heart as she can ride the Flying Nimbus with Goku in the anime. Launch is happy to carry out her work for Master Roshi, never realizing that he is constantly trying to grab, poke, rub, or catch a glimpse of her breasts, panties, or bra. However, many of his schemes are foiled, if not by his own mistakes. When Launch's nose gets tickled and she sneezes, it causes her to change into her violent half. Launch has a very sensitive nose, that, when irritated by even the smallest things, can result in a sneeze. Her sneezes are often provoked by things such as flowers, pepper, dust, and other common allergens. Bad Launch In her bad form, Launch has blonde hair. Goku, Master Roshi and Krillin are all deeply afraid of her bad side after she shoots them all with a machine gun. Afterwards, all of them run behind a boulder several meters away in fear, after being victims of her first assault, when it seemed like she would sneeze, and carefully observing her during dinner, ready to run away at the first sign of a sneeze. Somehow, she always appears to have a machine gun on her. Her transformations come in handy during the 22nd and 23rd World Martial Arts Tournaments, when she would clear the crowd and allow her friends to get up in front. Additionally, in the later episodes of the series, she seems to be more in control of her blonde form, whereas her earlier transformations in the series turn her into a berserk maniac with no control and no memory of any of the gang. In fact, later on in the story, she begins to control her blonde form completely and this is confirmed when she is shown to care greatly for Goku and the others, and even cries after Krillin's death, though she is still more aggressive than her other half. Biography Dragon Ball Tournament Saga Launch's blonde counterpart was the highest wanted criminal in Brown Country. One day, after turning into her blonde self when sneezing in a bar, she robbed a train, getting the police to chase her. During the chase, she accidentally sneezed, bringing her back to her weak and innocent form. Launch was saved by the young martial artists Goku and Krillin, while they were on Master Roshi's order to find him a woman. Goku and Krillin thought the police officers were just impersonators, and Goku knocked them unconscious, while Krillin hid. Launch was brought to Kame House, where she was introduced to Master Roshi, the turtle hermit. She agreed to stay with them so she can train with them and lay low from the authorities finding her. Once they moved to the Training Island, Launch decided to just cook and clean the house instead, since she doesn't like fighting. Launch spent the next eight months cooking for Goku, Krillin and Roshi as they prepared for the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, while at the same time, tried to avoid Launch's angry blonde side. Launch stayed at the house, while they went to the tournament. Helping against the Red Ribbon Army After the World Martial Tournament was over, Launch, Krillin and Roshi moved back to the island and Launch continued her duties of cooking and cleaning. When Goku and Bulma came to the get a submarine from Roshi, he received her Micro Band, which led Roshi into constantly bug Launch into to taking a bath, so he can spy on her. Launch's bad form came out and took command, which then came to an agreement to not shoot him as long as he did what she said. Turtle, who came back from vacation recently brought Launch back to her good form by rubbing her nose with a weed. After returning to her normal form, some Red Ribbon Army troops led by Captain Dark show up, demanding the Dragon Balls Goku had left behind. Roshi easily defeats them, but one threatened to shoot Launch if he didn't give up. Turtle luckily turns Launch back to her bad form, resulting in her beating the soldier herself. Later on, Launch joins Yamcha, Roshi, Bulma, Turtle and Krillin to go help Goku fight the Red Ribbon Army at their main base, but by the time they got there, all the troops were single handedly defeated by Goku. Meeting Tien Shinhan After three years have past and the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament was approaching, the good Launch was going to stay behind at Kame House but she sneezed and her bad form decided to go along. While there Roshi met up with his old rival Master Shen, the crane hermit. While getting annoyed with him Launch tried shooting him with her machine gun but Master Shen was able to catch all the bullets with his hand not hurting him. Launch was able to get the crowd into the front row by shooting a gun up in the air causing people to get scared and move. Later on when Goku was matched against Pamput, Pamput's manager tricked Goku into leaving the arena so he would be disqualified for not showing to the match, but Launch who was getting ice cream at the time saw this and chased after the car on a motorcycle. Launch chased them into an alleyway, and then beat up his bodyguards and the manager, allowing Goku to get to the fight on time. During Goku and Krillin's fight, Launch urges her friends to get some backbone and pick a side, while she chooses to root for Krillin. However, after the match is over she complients both of their skills and joyously wants to go out to eat to celebrate. In the final match, Master Shen has Chiaotzu stun Goku so Tien Shinhan can easily beat him. Launch goes over and tries to smash Chiaotzu with a mallet, but the Crane Hermit interferes with his pinky and easily pushes Launch out of the way. After the tournament is over, Launch becomes attracted to Tien. King Piccolo saga Launch is with the group when they find Krillin dead, and, even though she is in her bad form, she is just as sad as everyone else. After Goku raced off to find Krillin's killer, Master Roshi, upon seeing the symbol on a piece of paper nearby, tells the group of King Piccolo, Launch finds his name stupid. Later on, while group is still waiting for Goku to return, Launch is the one holding Krillin, she also tells Oolong that no one feels compassion for him right now. Eventually the group returns to Roshi's house. Launch, Bulma, Yamcha, Puar, and Oolong remain at the house, they even fight off three convicts who tried to burgle Kame House. Attending the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament Three years after Goku defeated King Piccolo, Launch attends the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament with Master Roshi where they meet back up with everyone. Launch spectates the fights in the tournament. Tien shows no interest in Launch then or in Dragon Ball Z, and he is actually happy when she decides to leave after sneezing and becoming the Good Launch (he found Bad Launch very annoying). Dragon Ball Z Her first appearance in Dragon Ball Z is during the Vegeta Saga, as her blonde self. Apparently, she has stayed with Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu since the end of Dragon Ball. She is first seen fleeing from the police on her S-Cargo. She blasts the chasing police cars with her bazooka. Later she finds Tien and Chiaotzu training by a waterfall when she screams his name and brings him out of his concentration. When all of a sudden the waterfall bursts and is heading at Launch, Tien quickly intervenes and saves her, making her blush (while in bad form). After Tien Shinhan is killed, she is seen in a bar, drowning her sorrows. Then feels the earthquake caused by the battle of Goku and Vegeta. She does not appear again for the majority of the series, except in a flashback from Goku when he was losing badly against Frieza. She reappears as her innocent self in the last episodes of Dragon Ball Z to give her energy to Goku for his Super Spirit Bomb. She seems to have aged somewhat. Although this did not occur in the manga by Akira Toriyama, it was one of the many filler stories written in the Goku Densetsu book by Toriyama and his staff. Launch's final appearance in the manga was actually during a filler scene in the Frieza Saga, the only instance where she appeared after the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. Such filler scenes were inserts to the chapters found in Weekly Shonen Jump 1991 #3 and #4. Since they were only gag-manga done at the request of the magazine, resulting in each author from those two issues contributing holiday-themed gag-manga inserts, they weren't considered canon and were never included in the Tankobon (compilation volume). Movie appearances In the movie Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle, Launch (in her evil, blond state) arrives to steal the Sleeping Princess, which is a giant jewel. Everyone is captured and encased in a wall of rock. It is the night of a full moon, and the moonlight is used to power the jewel. The moonlight also turns Goku into a Great Ape, and everyone escapes. Goku and Krillin return to Kame House with Launch, and Master Roshi takes them both on as students. In the movie Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure, Bulma, Oolong, Launch and Puar are looking for the Dragon Balls, so Bulma can wish for a boyfriend. During the film, Launch demonstrates more reserve and compassion in her violent state than normally expected, especially considering that she is one of the lead characters here and is only seen in her innocent state during an early scene in the film. Launch has recently appeared in Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! as a background character. She appears to once again live at Kame House with Master Roshi, Android 18, Krillin and Marron. Special abilities Fighting When Launch is in her bad side, she is good at fighting. She fought a bear person while she and Krillin were grocery shopping, saying "Don't talk with food in your mouth!" while constantly punching the bear and then saying "What kind of shop doesn't sell green onions, this is ridiculous! Come here!". She later fought and defeated members of Captain Dark's troop when they attacked Roshi at Kame House. Weaponry Launch has good skills of weaponry when she is in her bad side. She often shoots people such as Goku, Master Roshi, and Krillin. Launch's arsenal is carried via capsules; this was revealed in the Tien Shinhan Saga, opening a capsule to use a pistol and a machine pistol to clear away a crowd so that Bulma and the others could get a better seat for the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament. It is highly conceivable then, that Launch could have an entire arsenal of weaponry at her disposal, all within the size-reducing capsules. Weapons and vehicles *'Bazooka' – Launch uses a bazooka to stop a train that she is about to rob. She is later seen attempting to shoot King Piccolo with it but she changes back to her nice form before she can, later on she accidentally activates it nearly blowing up herself, Yamcha, and Bulma. *'Grenades' *'Machine Gun' – Master Roshi gives Launch some lingerie to change into, and after she changes she sneezes. She quickly pulls out machine gun and fills the boys full of bullets for making her wear such a thing. This gun is also used during the saloon scene at the beginning of the episode 15, appearing much sooner in the anime than it does in the manga, later in the series in order to protect Yamcha from Tambourine she tries to kill him with this but the bullets have no effect. According to Launch, it "is a high-performance, automatic weapon," and "it fires 100 rounds in less than 10 seconds. *'Shotgun' – This is a short barreled pump-action shotgun that Launch tries to use against the police that are chasing her. Fortunately she doesn't get the chance to use it, as she sneezes just before she is about to shoot. *'Hammer' – It is a huge mallet that she used once in the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament to stop Chiaotzu from controlling Goku. Master Shen stopped it and threw Launch at a wall and the hammer was not seen after that. *'S-Cargo' – Launch is seen driving this one-wheeled bike as she is being chased by the police after robbing a bank. The name itself is a pun, with "escargot" being the French word for "snail". The bike's design actually resembles a snail. Cooking When Launch is in her good form, she seems to cook very often for Master Roshi, Goku, and Krillin. She once cooked a pufferfish for Roshi and Krillin, and made them ill. Video game appearances Launch appears in Dragon Ball: Daimaō Fukkatsu, Dragon Ball Z: Super Gokuden: Totsugeki-Hen and Dragon Ball Z: Super Gokuden: Kakusei-Hen. She is seen in the background of the World Martial Arts Tournament battle stage in the arcade game Dragon Ball Z 2: Super Battle. In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3, Launch continues to appear until the end of the series, always looking for Tien. In addition to that, she also sells capsules in the Skill Shop, switching between her good and evil side randomly. In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, she also appears as the Z-Item shop owner switching between her good and evil side randomly. In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2, she is not seen, but is mentioned in the Character Illustration of Tien. Launch is also present in the Nintendo DS video games Dragon Ball: Origins, Dragon Ball: Origins 2, Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Densetsu, and Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans. In Dragon Ball: Origins 2, it is revealed in the bonus level 5-6 that a Quetzalcoatlus pterosaur attacked Launch in her bad form and took the Pirate Cave's diamond she stole from Bulma to bring it to his nest inside the pyramid near the Sacred Land of Korin. After a tailor told him about the "fabulous treasure" inside the pyramid, Krillin defeats the pterosaur and Launch steals the diamond once again. She also appears as a assist character in Dragon Ball Z: Bakuretsu Impact. Voice Actresses *'Japanese Dub': Mami Koyama *'FUNimation Dub': Meredith McCoy (Most Media), Christine Marten (Mean, DB Movie 2 Only), Monika Antonelli (Nice, DB Movie 2 Only) *'Ocean Dub': Teryl Rothery (Mean), Cathy Weseluck (Nice) *'Blue Water Dub': Kris Rundle *'Harmony Gold Dub': Edie Mirman (Movie 3) *'Latin American Dub': Cristina Camargo *'Portuguese Dub': Cristina Cavalinhos *'Italian Dub': Marina Massironi (Mean); Cinzia Massironi (Nice) *'Brazilian Dub': Márcia Regina Trivia *Launch's bounty is $2,000,000 as shown in "Look Out for Launch". *Akira Toriyama has stated that the reason Launch stopped appearing during Dragon Ball Z was because he simply forgot about her, and that her bad state would have caused confusion because of its similarity to the Super Saiyan transformation. *While shown in a filler when Goku needed energy for the spirit bomb to defeat Kid Buu, Launch was shown to have aged somewhat, but when in Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return she was shown to be young again. This happened after the defeat of Buu. *The Traffic Agent Lady from "Goku's Traffic Safety" is often referred as being Launch, because they are both voiced by Mami Koyama and have a similar character design, which is of Launch's good form but with blonde hair. Also, the Dragon Book mentions the appearance of Launch in the special, while only the Traffic Agent Lady appears. *Launch does not appear in Dragon Ball Z Kai. However, she appears in the credits. *While shown in her blonde state, in the promotional poster of Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!, she only appears in her innocent state during all the film. *Launch doesn't appear at all in Dragon Ball GT, but she is shown in the flashback montage of the three Dragon Ball series at the very end when Goku is leaving the World Martial Arts Tournament 100 years later. *Launch makes a cameo appearance while in her good state in the 7th Dr. Slump film, Arale-chan: N-cha! Love Comes From Penguin Village. She is seen in a crowd with Oolong, the Pilaf Gang, King Nikochan and his servant and the two characters to Akira Toriyama's one-shot Pink. *The personality of Launch's bad form seems to be modeled after Polly Buckets from Akira Toriyama's previous series Dr. Slump, although their roles are the opposite since Launch is a criminal and Polly Buckets is a cop. *Launch looks very similar to Ayla from Chrono Trigger. Both characters were created by Akira Toriyama. *Some fans call her blond incarnation Kushami, a name used in old fan summaries of the then untranslated manga in order to distinguish the two. *Her line "Doesn't he know it's an offer he can't refuse!" is a reference to the famous gangster film The Godfather. *Her disorder is similar to the dissociative identity disorder. Since she has a crush on Tien Shinhan some fans believe that's why he dosen't stay in one place for a while Category:Characters Category:Human Category:Females Category:Gun Users Category:Dragon Ball Category:Dragon Ball Z Category:Z Fighter Support